News

First, somehow, in some way, my computer picked up a virus and has been running extra slow. Second, I had to have a grumbly car fixed. Third, I have been overwhelmed this semester learning new technology for the classroom. And finally, I am fighting a cold that I'm sure I caught from my sick colleagues and/or Anthony who has been sneezing and sniffling for the past week.

So, that about sums up my September and how the month has slipped by me. Sigh.And speaking of slipping by, my poem, "Second-hand Harmonica" is featured in the newest issue of Slipstream. This issue embraces the theme, Lust, Dust and Rust, (What a stunning cover by artist nyk fury! ) and features great work by poets Marc Pietrzykowski, Cat Weiss, Rachel Squires Bloom, Alison Stone, Rebecca Schwab, Jim Daniels, and Gerald Locklin. The Slipstream editors are now reading for their next themed issue titled, Elements. Stop by the journal's website for both fun reading and submission guidelines.

Rejection is part of the writer's life and I don't believe that I could write anything today about rejection that hasn't already been said. Perhaps the best quote I have ever heard about rejection is this: "Rejection is a sign of a writer at work." Yes, I put quotes around this sentence, but it's really a paraphrase because I have no idea who said it, and a quick Google search didn't help me. I did, however, find this interesting website titled Literary Rejections. Many of the quotes are familiar to me, but others were new -- with lots of advice about rejection worth thinking about.Still, this isn't really a post celebrating rejection. Instead, it's a post celebrating the publication of my poem, "Chameleon" in The Redheaded Stepchild, a journal that specializes in finding homes for the rejected poem. In other words, this is a journal that celebrates rejection! My poem joins work by poets Carol Berg, Kimberly L. Becker, and Lauren Camp (among others!) Stop by and enjoy all the work!

Hello May! I am sure glad to see you. April was a month of trials and tribulations, so I am looking forward to the end of the semester and the start of summer. Except that right now it doesn't feel too much like summer. In fact, even though I am seeing more green than I have in the last few months, it doesn't feel much like spring. My tulips are struggling to open in the rain and the robins look miserable. Predictions say it's going to be a cool summer here in the Northeast, so I'm not packing away my winter sweaters, yet.

On the good news front: two acceptances for two poems. I am excited that my poems will appear in upcoming volumes of Slipstream and So to Speak.

Finally, drum roll, please.....the winners of this year's Great Poetry Giveaway are....Margo Roby has won a copy of The Waiting Girl by Erin GanawayKatrina Roberts has won a Chapbook Poetry Grab Bag (which will include a copy of Wearing Heels in the Rust Belt).Thanks to everyone who stopped by to leave a note on my blog. Please visit again.

We have started off the new year with snow and frigid temperatures. That's the bad news. The good news is that I have received my first acceptance for a prose piece. My essay, "Compromising Chiroptophobia or Why I'm Giving Up and Learning to Love the Bat" will be published in The Nassau Review this spring in a special issue on art, nature and science. The piece explores my personal fear of bats (even though I consider myself a small town girl!) and juxtaposes this fear with the very real possibility that many of America's bat species could go extinct because of White-Nose Syndrome.

Regular readers of my old blog, The Scrapper Poet, know that I have been working seriously with prose for about six months now. After suffering through a dry spell of not writing any poetry at all, I find writing prose liberating --I'm not agonizing over line breaks and stanzas and the music of words. Instead, I'm focusing on language itself, strong concrete nouns, specific adjectives and active verbs. I've always loved research, and yes, research plays into poetry. But, in the past, I often found myself so engulfed in the research that I forgot the poem. Somehow, prose lets me incorporate research more readily and smoothly.

I have not forgotten poetry, however. Yesterday, I received contributor's copy of Poetry East. My poem "Yellowjackets" joins work by poets Michael Miller, Molly Fisk, Robert Gibb, and Jason Irwin (who blurbed my first chapbook, Stealing Dust!) I spent yesterday, cleaning out and reorganizing last year's poetry files and I even sent some submissions out. This year may be the year that I finally get my act together and finish my first full-length collection of poetry.

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I am a poet and professor from rural Pennsylvania. This page is dedicated to my publishing news and events; for book reviews published online go to the Reviews tab above. For my own personal reviews, explore the Book Picks tab.